TARGET Australia will pull popular R-rated video game Grand Theft Auto V (GTA5) from its shelves after an online petition slammed the game for encouraging players to “commit sexual violence and kill women”.

The petition, authored by former sex workers, has so far attracted almost 40,000 signatures.

It says the “sickening game” encourages players to kill prostitutes and calls on Target to stop selling it.

“Games like this are grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women,” the petition said.

General manager of corporate affairs Jim Cooper said Target would no longer sell the game.

“We’ve been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game’s content,” he said in a statement.

“We’ve also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue.

“However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers.”

Mr Cooper said Target would continue to sell other R-rated DVDs and games.

“While these products often contain imagery that some customers find offensive, in the vast majority of cases, we believe they are appropriate products for us to sell to adult customers,” he said.

“However, in the case of GTA5, we have listened to the strong feedback from customers that this is not a product they want us to sell.”

GTA5 is an award-winning game which set a sales record for entertainment products, passing the $1 billion sales mark after three days.

It came after a group of former sex workers launched a change.org petition to remove the game from the popular department store because it provides an incentive to commit sexual violence against women.

One of the petitioners, who has asked to be referred to only as Nicole for fear of further reprisals from the gaming community, said GTA5 had “upped the ante” on previous titles because it allowed gamers to play in first-person mode. This perspective allows players to visit strip clubs, have graphic sex with prostitutes, kill and maim people, and run over pedestrians, all with striking realism.

Nicole said the most dangerous part of the game, which was released for the next-generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles last month, was the ability for players to pay for simulated sex with a prostitute and then get their money back by killing the woman.